Commuting bike choice - is a change a good thing??

[Time Waster]

It is difficult to say how much it has saved. My ticket on the train is perhaps not much better than the van, well it is but there is not so much to save to pay for the bike. It will take a long time to pay off. No discounted travel and I am stuck to peak due to the time I go in and leave for home. No season ticket on offer and at most a railcard (need to get one I reckon).

I see the Brompton as a necessary evil to get me to work quicker from the station. I live minutes from the station on the home leg it is the station to work and back that I need a bike at all. Work provides a bus service that runs all through the day and most of the evening. It just goes round and round. However it is never there on time to meet the trains for some reason. Plus I go to all the stops on the way. Free though. The point is that the bus eats into your time. Travelling to work is not paid for so bus takes extra say 15 minutes waiting and going round the houses. Bike ride gets you into your earning hours. Considering I can just get my hours in by bike I would end up having to stay an extra hour if I used the bus or walked due to the tight timescale for travelling. IF that makes sense. i learnt commute is dead time for earning so Bike cuts a bit out. Rigid bike or fast folder would cut more out.

I used to pack the brommie in the van when i drove to the garage for a service or work. Then I would ride back. It took 8 to 10 minutes by folder. I learnt the rigid road / touring / gravel bike takes 6 to 8 minutes for the same journey. It is significant IMHO. The Brompton is simply slow, no way around that. It is not even like I need the folding now going this way. Well perhaps I could be among the cyclists on a busy dfay to get turned away. I reckon I could get there when the train gets into the station to turn around on a rigid bike. That means I could be the first bike on so less likely to be kicked off. On busy days the brommie gets there and has to be folded to even fit on at the end of the other bikes.

I am kind iof convincing myself that I need to use the rigid bike and look at how much I would use the folder without the commute case to keep it which isn't there any more. i suspect it would not see enough use to keep.

I think it is time for Brompton to design a newer solution and include proper good gears.

 

[fritz katzenjammer]

Indeed, and I think that is were a good few of us fail with Bromptons. We go from fast road bikes to a Brommie thinking nothing will change, but it's a whole new ball game. It plays with your mind and as you say it feels soul sucking if you don't get into that 'Slower' Brompton ride.

It wasn’t a problem with me, I had a Dutch bike before the brompton, it’s it seems like a little rocket. It is 30 pounds lighter after all.

 

[froze]

I hate to sound like a prick, but why are you asking us? Why not simply ride both and you make the decision which is best for you? Believe it or not, you are capable of making that decision without asking.

 

[a.twiddler]

I hate to sound like a prick, but why are you asking us? Why not simply ride both and you make the decision which is best for you? Believe it or not, you are capable of making that decision without asking.

Well, for me, that's the way madness lies, or at least n + 1 or even more 'cos I haven't met many bikes I didn't like!

 

[froze]

Well, for me, that's the way madness lies, or at least n + 1 or even more 'cos I haven't met many bikes I didn't like!

Right, I have 6 rideable bikes when I was commuting, I just grabbed one, didn't care which one I rode, I usually road my 84 Fuji Club, on a rare occasion I took my 13 Lynskey Peloton, and the others were just scattered, mostly rode those to keep things moving on them. Like you, I haven't met too many bikes I didn't like either. Even though the 85 Fuji I had problems with the Suntour ARX rear derailleur to work right, I eventually gave up on it after many years and replaced it with a Superbe Tech, after that it worked fantastic. Truth be told, the ARX worked ok, it just wasn't up to my standards I had with Mountech, Superbe, and Nuova Record...in regards to vintage gear.

The worse bike I have is a 87 Giant Rincon, those XT derailleurs of that era are crap deluxe, I never replaced them because when I riding it I was banging it around and didn't want to damage better derailleurs! I haven't rode that bike in years, or for commuting due to the problems with it. That bike was my single worse bike I ever owned.

I had a 45 minute commute, so it wasn't a short commute, but not long either.